A video showing individuals assisting in applying makeup to a young girl on a stretcher, illustrating her injuries, is being shared on social media with a false claim that it serves as evidence of Palestinians feigning injuries and shooting videos to spread fake propaganda against Israeli military actions.
In the later part of the video, some people can be observed posing in front of the camera, with the girl holding a Palestinian flag.
BOOM found that the video is part of a behind-the-scenes footage from a film shot by filmmaker Mahmoud Ramzi in Lebanon to support war victims in Palestine.
Israel is currently under global scrutiny for disregarding humanitarian ceasefire appeals from the United Nations and escalating its assault on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government claims that their military operations target Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, which initiated a lethal attack on the country on October 7. According to news reports, the Hamas attack resulted in nearly 1,400 casualties, while the Israeli retaliation have caused the death of over 10,000 people in Palestine.
Kobbi Shoshani, the Consul General of Israel to Midwest India, Mumbai, shared the video on his official X (formerly Twitter) account with a caption, "Bollywood, you have fake competition in Gaza."
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Right-wing users in India have also shared the video, making a similar false claim.
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Fact Check
BOOM went through the responses in one of these posts and found that a user, on X (formerly Twitter), stated that the visuals are from a short film titled 'The Reality'.
In the reply, the user also mentioned that the film was recorded in Lebanon by some Lebanese actors as an act of solidarity and support to the people in Gaza.
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We then conducted a keyword search associated with the film's name 'The Reality' and came across a post from another X user, who shared some glimpses of the film on November 10, 2023.
The user wrote, "My cousin Mahmoud, a Lebanese-Palestinian still in Lebanon today shot his first short film after years of pursuing photography as a passion. Here is "The Reality". All filmed in one shot, no cuts, a message about how our deaths aren't meant to be used for online discourse or likes."
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Additionally, the user shared a link to the filmmaker Mahmoud Ramzi's Instagram account where the same film visuals was posted on October 28, 2023.
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Below is a comparison of a scene from the viral video with the movie visuals shared by the filmmaker on his Instagram profile.
Moreover, we observed that the film director Ramzi recently posted several Instagram stories to refute the false claims. In one of these stories, the filmmaker shared visuals from the video that is now circulating widely and added a caption that says, "Re-enacting the scenes of the most horrific crimes committed by the enemy against our people. Based on a true story. Our solidarity with our people in Palestine salam from Lebanon".
Furthermore, BOOM also reached out to the filmmaker Mahmoud Ramzi for a comment. The filmmaker said that he shot the film in Lebanon (Saida) to show a glimpse of the pain that Gaza’s people endured.
Ramzi told BOOM, "It was not filmed to mislead people or to fabricate any truth, because what’s happening in Gaza don’t need any form of fabrication. The video that went viral where they were applying makeup on the girl’s face was a video of behind the scenes of the short movie."